The Passion of a Black Journalist
By - Kokayi Nosakhere
On September 23, 1957, 6’3, a very dark complexioned citizen of the United States of America was assaulted by several members of a protest mob outside the Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. His name was Lucious Alexander Wilson. He was born towards the end of the seventh generation of Black People, in March 1909, and was a self-described newspaper man.
The reason he was in Little Rock was to cover a dynamic and active story. Thanks to the efforts of Attorney Thurgood Marshall, on May 17, 1954 the Supreme Court decided the controversial case, Brown vs Board of Kansas. In what was considered a miracle at the time, nine European American men were convinced that segregation was bad for the mental health of American children. The decision integrated the classroom, and, in doing so, sparked tremendous outrage.
Southern European Americans were furious at what they considered to be an act of betrayal from the federal government. The Negroes, as Black people were called at that time, were using the force of law against them. Law was what the Southerns used to define and enforce segregationists. How dare the Negroes inspire a “civil” war!
Segregationists organized themselves into what they called Massive Resistance. Because the KKK membershipo carried such a negative reputation, thanks to lynching, the new vehicle those who wanted to resist created was called a “white citizens council.” In Alabama, where the Montgomery Bus Boycott would “start” the Civil Rights Movement, 80,000 persons filled 100 chapters in less than two years.
Three years after the Supreme Court decision, nine Black students applied to Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. They were scheduled to attend starting on Monday, September 3, 1954. The response within the European American communities was electric. Defying all disclaimers to being a community, thousands of white bodies threatened to surround the high school in protest. The Governor deployed the National Guard at night on Sunday, September 2. When the students showed up, they were blocked from entering the school.
A federal judge called these actions illegal and ruled the students be admitted immediately on Tuesday, September 4. Once again, the European American community filled the streets and prevented the students from entering “their school.” Obviously, this contest attracted national attention.
That is where L. Alex Wilson, the name he used for his byline, comes in. He was the editor of the Tri-State Defender, a Black newspaper, and an accomplished journalist. 16 days after the conflict started, he got out of a car in the midst of (essentially) a lynch mob. One thousand European Americans showed up to protest and surrounded the car. Finding themselves in great danger, three Black men riding with Wilson escaped on foot.
Three Black students also found themselves in danger. To save them, Wilson offered himself to the crowd. Knowing the news cameras were recording his every movement, the esteemed journalist handled himself in a heroic manner. The moment he created was lauded within the Black community as a shining example of courage.
Once, in Florida, the great newspaper man ran from a lynch mob. He felt so much inner shame for doing so, he promised himself he would never run from another such mob. That day to not run came on September 23. Choosing to neither speed up or slow down, Mr. Wilson started walking towards his hotel room several blocks away in the segregated side of Little Rock.
The cameras captured a “snarling” white man who jumped on his back, choking Wilson and knocking his hat off. As Wilson calmly picked his hat up, he was kicked in the head. (The photographs of him bleeding from the mouth became famous.) Recovering from the kick, he remarkably continued on at the same pace he was going before being assaulted. His actions enraged another member of the mob and Wilson was knocked out when struck from behind with a brick.
Upon being revived, Wilson rose again and filed his copy for the day. He wrote, “I decided not to run. If I were beaten, I’d take it walking if I could – not running. […] Any newsman worth his salt is dedicated to the proposition that it is his responsibility to report the news factually under favorable and unfavorable conditions. […] I am not bitter. […] I believe that justice and fair-play for all minorities will eventually triumph in the tension-ridden social revolution which has gripped the South.”
The beating became the only news on September 24. The story became a national sensation and drew the attention of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. On September 25, 1957 the Arkansas National Guard was federally deputized and those very same persons who prevented nine Black teenagers from attending Central High School were forced to protect Black people as they walked through a lynch mob of their white neighbors.
As this is Holy Week for Christians, Ramadan for Muslims and Holi for Hindu, I offer this remembrance of passion from Black history. I am in full gratitude for this demonstration of what courage and sacrifice looks like.
Source Material
https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/
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